textproduct: Quad Cities

KEY MESSAGES

- Lingering brisk northwest winds producing blowing and drifting snow into this evening. Cold tonight with biting wind chills early in the morning. A winter weather advisory continues for most of the area until 12 AM (Midnight) Tuesday. - Another snow system for Tuesday night with light accumulations possible.

- Trending back much warmer again by late in the week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 248 PM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Tonight...With wind gusts still well over 30 MPH and the lighter blow-able nature of the snow for continued reduced visibility, have replaced the lingering expiring headlines with a Winter Weather Advisory for still hazardous travel til late afternoon. Secondary vort max acrs east central MN will drop down acrs the area tonight and may wring out a few flurries or light snow showers out of any lingering stratocu deck mainly acrs far northeast IA into northwest IL. But hopefully these won't be much of a deal. Still expect a clear out then later tonight from the northwest, allowing cold advection incoming air to produce cold low temps especially over fresh snow cover. As long as the winds decrease enough with the clear out late tonight, lows could dip into the low single digits above zero, or even around zero in the north. Even with the winds dropping to around 10 MPH, they still will produce unseasonable wind chills from 5 below to 15 below zero.

Tuesday...After a cold start to the day, backing LLVL flow ahead of the next incoming clipper will help bring temps in the 20s back up acrs the area, with some low 30s in the south. Some top-down saturation is going to have to take place, but Condensation P-defs do lower enough with incoming elevated WAA wing for a band of snow seeping into the northwestern DVN CWA by late afternoon. This F-gen band will then look to move down acrs much of the rest of the DVN CWA as the evening progresses, with current accepted ensembles suggesting the southwestern CWA to have the lesser coverage. Extent of lift, vertical thermal profiles, PWAT feed and passing residence time support much of the area getting from 1 to 3 inches by the time the snow moves out after 3 to 4 AM in the Wed morning. Some worry on the southwestern flank of the precip shield that if the cloud ceilings are low enough, there could be some freezing drizzle after the adequate ice nuclei depart off to the southeast. Cold lows again Wed morning in the 20s and teens.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 248 PM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Quick look at the longer range and ensemble means still advertise an impressive large upper ridge engulfing much of the southwestern/west half of the CONUS by late week. Besides the eventual shunting of the main storm track off to the north and east of the local area for drier conditions, a portion of the upstream building thermal ridge will edge in from the west for a nice warm up for the second half of the week. After the thermal robbing snow has melted off, we may be in line for 60s and 70s by Friday or Saturday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 625 PM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

A strong late season storm system continues to slowly lift into the Great Lakes early this evening with MVFR to IFR conditions at all TAF sits with northwest winds gusting between 25 to 30 knots in BLSN. Snow showers that develop this afternoon are possible at all TAF sites through 02 UTC but may end quicker as the sunset across the region. Have placed a tempo group at all TAF sites to account for the snow showers. Snow showers may also produce brief wnd gusts up to 40 knots but confidence is low in this occurring.

After 02 UTC, ceilings will lift to VFR with ceilings between 3 amd 5 KFT with winds slowly diminishing. BLSN is possible through 06 UTC when wind gusts diminishing substantially. Sustained winds further drop below 10 knots between 15 and 18 UTC as winds turn to the south area wide. TAFs are expected to become VFR after 06 UTC and continue through the remainder of the period.

CLIMATE

Issued at 248 PM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Record Lows for Tuesday March 17th.

Burlington... 0 in 1906 Cedar Rapids... -2 in 1902 Dubuque..... -3 in 1941 Moline......... 0 in 1902

DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

IA...Winter Weather Advisory until 12 AM CDT this evening for IAZ041- 042-052>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099. IL...Winter Weather Advisory until 12 AM CDT this evening for ILZ001- 002-007-009-015>018-024>026-034-035. MO...Winter Weather Advisory until 12 AM CDT this evening for MOZ009-010.